When Wayne was taking action, Greenach was struck with a fact that he was incompetent.
First of all, the soldiers he had tried to mobilize won"t gather easily. Many soldiers were not able to respond even when they were being called because they didn"t have the discipline.
And even when they gathered, he could not controls them easily. That was because he lacked field commanders. Even when Greenach told them to follow him, he could distinctively feel resentment coming from them.
At the moment when he tried to make the soldiers obey him, a messenger delivered news from the soldiers that he had tasked to capture Wayne.
“Your Excellency, we"ve confirmed that the prince didn"t return to his inn…”
“In connection with that, we"ve also received a report some people had stolen some horses from the people"s stable and go out of the city. We believe, those people were the prince and his escort.”
“Nuu…!”
That was a heavy blow for Greenach.
He planned to seize Wayne, the central figure of Natra, and make Natra dysfunctional, then using the gap created from it he would get princess Louwellmina.
If this happens before he knew Wayne"s real persona, he would"ve easily dismissed the news as Wayne escaped. But now, since he was sure that Wayne was someone with the disposition of being a hero, Greenach was convinced that if he were to lead an army, the threat would be unimaginable.
By all possible means, he could not let Wayne go just like that. Greenach then raised his voice.
“Close our border with Natra, now! The infantry should continue with their preparation! I will lead the cavalry to capture Wayne!”
“Y-Your Excellency is going to take command yourself?”
“Are there any complaints?!”
“N-No…”
Greenach was aware that this was a desperate plan. The fact that Greenach had joined the pursuing teams was not only dangerous but also further delay the entire operation.
But, Greenach still chose to command the pursuit team. Not only he didn"t have many subordinates that he could trust, but there was also a strong will inside him that he wants to capture Wayne with his own hands.
In any case, Greenach decided to choose 50 cavalries among 400 and led them to chase after Wayne.
There were only 5 opponents. With him bringing 50 knights, it should be more than enough. The problem was whether or not their speed could catch up. Since a considerable distance should"ve been created between them.
But still, Greenach was confident. Several checkpoints had been closed by using the fire beacon. Of course, there was a way to get around the checkpoints but that would take a lot of time. [TLN: Similar to the one used in The Lord of The Ring.]
Sure enough, an eyewitness reported to him when he arrived at the second checkpoint. They said that several people had broken through forcefully when they tried to close the checkpoint. Furthermore, time-wise, it was only just a moment ago that they manage to break through the second checkpoint.
“We will catch him as fast as we can! Remember, we will catch him alive!”
Greenach rides his horse as he gives his orders.
At long last, he could see Wayne in front of him.
“I see him!”
He guessed that Wayne had prepared some soldiers at the border. But with the current speed, there was no way he could arrive there in time. With this distance, his cavalry with the selected warhorse would catch up with them first. And if he manages to catch up with Wayne, with the current numbers, victory would be a.s.sured.
(I made it in time, I made it in time!)
Greenach unit was approaching a small hill. Beyond the hill, a downhill basin was waiting. He had thought, that would be the place Wayne would meet his end.
(Look, Gerald, I will catch the young man that had killed you with my own hands!)
And as his unit arrived at the top of the hill—
He witnessed hundreds of Natra soldiers were waiting in the basin.
“Whether or not Greenach heart would break, the possibility is fifty-fifty.”
Wayne said those words at the strategy meeting with Ninim and Louwellmina.
“That is why we should prepare something in case the plan failed…”
“That is of course but, will you be fine if the plan failed? Since you would be in the enemy"s territory.”
Wayne then answered Louwellmina"s question.
“Even if we fail, Greenach is not the type of person that could handle me immediately. Using that, I will buy some time to escape the city.”
“Can you really escape to Natra with just that?”
This time, Ninim was the one who asked but, Wayne shakes his head in response.
“That is impossible. Which is why, we will disperse some soldiers and infiltrate the marquis territory. Looking at the speed of the horses, the location and the surrounding topography, we should gather around this basin..”
Wayne then pointed at one point on the map. The detailed map was provided by Louwellmina. Thanks to that, they could understand completely the geography of Marquis" territory, and it was not hard for them to infiltrated the territory secretly.
“Greenach who knows that I have run away would lead his troops to pursue me. But if he considers the speed, he should"ve been only being able to bring at most a hundred cavalry.”
“… I see, just by changing the point of view, you could bait Marquis Antogadar to bring only a hundred soldiers out of four thousand. Then, with little soldiers, we could beat him…”
“Marquis Greenach would end up dumbfounded huh? He had thought that he could chase after the inferior opponent with a small number, turn out, hundreds of Natra"s most elite soldiers had lay in wait…”
Ninim and Louwellmina whispered at each other while looking impressed at Wayne, but he keep continue without minding their gaze.
“Oi oi, this is too early to feel satisfied, don"t you think, both of you? I still have more.”
“You still have more move you say… But didn"t you say that we"re only going to capture Greenach?”
“I told you earlier didn"t I… I didn"t have the intention to defeat him militarily, but we will break his heart/mind. If we only catch him and nothing more, he would still struggle and might not cooperate with us after all…”
Saying that, Wayne showed an evil laugh.
“I still have one more move.”